Cyber warfare has totally changed the rules of warfare in contemporary times. Traditionally, warfare is dominated by arms, ammunition and strength of armed forces. However, in cyberspace, none of them have any effective role to play. For instance, a very knowledgeable cracker equipped with right resources and equipment can easily defeat a fully armed army in game of cyber warfare. Here guns and missiles have no role in establishing offensive and defensive capabilities.

This is the reason that nations or individuals who are less capable in terms of military strength might take up US in cyberspace. As establishing 100% cyber security is not possible, there are always some loopholes in the cyberspace. If these loopholes are present in the critical infrastructures, then this is a serious cyber security nightmare.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain, has recently said "Our adversaries have reached a common conclusion, that the reward for attacking America in cyberspace outweighs the risk".

With most of the U.S. critical infrastructure in private hands and Americans among the most connected citizens in the world, the potential attack surface for any hacker is vast and increasing. U.S. officials and lawmakers have argued that because there is no official policy on cyberwarfare, the response to any attack can be slow, politicized and ultimately ineffectual.

Meanwhile, as per media reports and leaked proposed executive order (pdf), US President Donald Trump will order a 60-day report on the state of the nation's cyber security, complete with recommendations on whether new legal powers are required. However, many believe that one executive order would not be enough to secure the federal government.

The challenge for the Trump team, then, is to figure out how to change the culture at government agencies to make security more of a priority ó without imposing rigid policies that prevent agencies from getting their work done. Thatís not an issue thatís explored in the draft executive order. Not only this, even the Americans are giving up on cyber security issues and they have shown great distrust for big institutions handling their sensitive information and data. So cyber security awareness among Americans must also be increased along with developing offensive and defensive cyber security capabilities within US soil.